Palindrome Pairs — given a list of unique words, return all pairs of indices (i, j) such that words[i] + words[j] is a palindrome. (Highest-frequency Airbnb-tagged problem on the LeetCode company tag.)

Brute force is O(n^2 * k); the expected answer builds a hash map of reversed words and, for each word, splits it at every index and checks whether the prefix/suffix halves are palindromes and the complementary half exists in the map. Watch the empty-string and self-pairing edge cases. Recognizing the reversed-word + palindrome-split insight, correctly handling the index/edge cases, and clean working code rather than just the brute force.

Pour Water — given an elevation array, a volume of water units, and a drop index, simulate where each unit of water settles (it prefers to fall left, then right, then stays in place). Return the final heights. (Second-highest Airbnb frequency.)

Drop one unit at a time and simulate: from the drop point, scan left looking for the lowest reachable position that's strictly lower; if none, scan right with the same rule; otherwise rest in place. Be precise about the tie-breaking ('lowest, leftmost') so units stack realistically. Faithful simulation of an underspecified physical rule, careful tie-breaking, and incremental correctness — Airbnb favors these 'implement the spec exactly' problems over abstract puzzles.

Alien Dictionary — given a list of words sorted lexicographically in an unknown alien language, derive a valid character ordering (or detect that none exists).

Build a graph of character precedence by comparing adjacent words at their first differing character, then run a topological sort (Kahn's BFS or DFS). Detect cycles (return '') and the invalid-prefix case where a longer word precedes its own prefix. Modeling ordering constraints as a graph, knowing topological sort with cycle detection, and catching the prefix edge case that most candidates miss.

Design Airbnb's reservation/booking system — handle searching availability, booking a listing for a date range, and preventing double-booking under concurrency.

Model listings/availability/reservations; make booking atomic with a DB transaction plus a unique constraint or row lock on (listing, date range) to prevent overlaps; consider holds/expiring reservations, idempotency keys for retries, and how cancellations free inventory. Be ready to write actual schema and column types. Correctness under concurrency (the double-booking trap), clean data modeling, and — reported as distinctive at Airbnb — concrete schema/data-type decisions, not just boxes-and-arrows.

Design the search / availability system: given a location, date range, guest count, and filters, return ranked available listings fast at global scale.

Separate the read path (geo + availability index, e.g. geo-sharded search service / Elasticsearch + a calendar/availability store) from ranking; precompute or cache availability, discuss pagination and freshness, and quantify QPS and p95 latency targets. Address the geo + date-range filter intersection explicitly. Scaling reads to global QPS with low latency, sensible indexing/caching choices, and trade-offs between freshness, cost, and ranking quality.

Design the host–guest messaging system: real-time chat tied to a booking, with delivery guarantees, storage, and privacy.

Lay out the write path (message service + durable store partitioned by conversation), real-time delivery via WebSocket/push with a fan-out/queue, ordering and idempotent delivery, read receipts, and search/retention. Cover abuse/PII concerns since messages are between strangers transacting money. Real-time delivery design, durable ordered storage at scale, and awareness of trust/privacy concerns specific to a two-sided marketplace.

Tell me about a time you built something great from scratch.

Pick a story where you had real ownership from zero, use STAR, and emphasize the ambiguity you navigated and the entrepreneurial decisions you made (the 'Be a Cereal Entrepreneur' value). Quantify the outcome and what you learned, and know the story cold for follow-ups. Ownership, scrappiness/initiative, and ability to create from ambiguity rather than just execute assigned work.

Tell me about a time you were part of a community — how did you contribute to or foster belonging?

Choose an example (work or personal — Airbnb welcomes personal stories) showing you build belonging and bring people together, mapping to 'Be a Host' / 'Champion the Mission.' Focus on your specific actions and their effect on others, not just the outcome for you. Genuine alignment with Airbnb's belonging mission, empathy, and being someone who strengthens the people around them.

What is something you wanted to accomplish in the last year that you haven't accomplished yet?

Be candid and self-aware: name a real unmet goal, explain why it mattered, what got in the way, and what you're concretely doing about it. Avoid a humble-brag; the round rewards honesty and growth mindset over a polished win. Self-reflection, honesty about shortcomings, and a growth orientation — this round is deliberately less about projects and more about how you think.

Airbnb Interview Questions

Airbnb's SWE loop is a recruiter screen, a real-code coding phone screen (CoderPad; pseudocode is not accepted), and — for mid/senior (G8+) — a system-design phone screen, followed by an onsite of ~5 rounds: coding, a distinctive Code Review round (which replaced the 2nd coding interview in 2024), system design, a Technical Experience/project deep-dive, and a core-values/behavioral round run by someone outside your functional team. Coding skews medium-to-hard with a notable DP lean and product-flavored problems.

25 real questions across 3 rounds

11 more coding questions Airbnb actually asks, each with how to approach it and exactly what the interviewer is evaluating. Unlock the full set across every round.

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